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LONDON — This is the cold, unforgiving reality Matt Gentry faced on Friday.

For six years, he’d trained like a green beret. He’d put his life on hold. He and his wife, Emily, had made huge sacrifices. And there he was, one match away from his dream at the ExCeL in London.

“I’m proud,” said the 30-year-old wrestler from Burnaby. “I gave my everything and I’m proud of the way I competed and the way I prepared.”

But that was all he had to show for this night; it’s what so many of these young people have to show for chasing the Olympic dream. With a bronze medal agonizingly close, Gentry ran into two-time world champion Denis Tsargush from Russia and made two mistakes in their 74-kg match.

That resulted in two points for Tsargush, one in each round, and that was enough for the bronze that Gentry so desperately wanted.

“I got a couple of world champs on my side of the bracket [the other loss was to American star Jordan Burroughs, who won the gold medal], but you want that,” he said. “This is the Olympics. You don’t want to be handed a medal. You want to earn it. You want to look back at it and be proud of it.”

Gentry did finish fifth in the 74-kg weight class, the best result for a Canadian male wrestler since Daniel Igali’s gold in Sydney 12 years ago.

“I’m sure as time passes I’ll think about that,” he said. “But I wanted to see our flag raise. That sting and that disappointment is the over-riding emotion right now.”

Gentry, who was born in Oregon but whose mother is from Vancouver Island, kicked things off for the men’s wrestling team with an encouraging performance on the first day of the wrestling tournament. Elsewhere, Windsor’s David Tremblay lost his first-round match in the 55-kg class and finished 18th. Three other Canadians will see action on the mats at the ExCeL: Haislan Garcia in 66 kg, Khetag Pliev in 96 kg and Arjan Bhullar in 120 kg.

“We were in a medal match at the Olympic Games and it’s been a while since we could say that,” said Canadian coach Dave McKay, another Burnaby native. “It takes years and years. It’s a progression. I’m really excited about where we are and where we’re going. I’m excited about the athletes we have here.”

And it’s been a while since he could say that.

Gentry, for his part, was impressive in beating India’s Narsingh Yadav in his first match and Puerto Rico’s Francisco Soler in his repechage match. The problem was he ran into a monster in Burroughs, then drew the Russian.

“This is a six-year process for me,” said Gentry, who left his assistant coaching position at Stanford, his alma mater, two years ago to prepare for the Olympics. “It’s been six years of steady improvement. I’ve never been this well prepared. Unfortunately I played into [Tsargush’s] tactics. He’s a counter-wrestler. He likes to keep it close and score late and I let him do it both rounds.”

Gentry, who earned a biology degree while he was starring in the Stanford wrestling program, got off one good line when he was asked about his age and the likelihood of returning for 2016.

“Hey, 30 is the new 20,” he said.

But, in the next breath, he admitted this was his last Olympics.

“In terms of putting things off, I’d say starting a career outside of wrestling is very difficult,” Gentry said. “We don’t make a lot of money. I’m going to have to start over if I want to go to something new. I don’t know. Coaching is something that interests me.”

“He’s such a great role model,” said McKay. “Nobody is more committed to his sport. I think he’ll always be involved in wrestling.”

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